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Ranking Member Pingree: Reckless, Indiscriminate Purge of Public Servants Will Have Lasting Harmful Effects

| Posted in Press Releases

In letters sent today to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which oversees the United States Forest Service, and Department of the Interior (DOI), which encompasses eleven bureaus, including the National Park Service, House Appropriations Interior and Environment Subcommittee Ranking Member Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) demanded answers and transpare...

Ranking Members Pingree, Merkley Condemn Indian Affairs Hiring Freeze, Firings as Violation of Tribal Sovereignty

| Posted in Press Releases
CP Merkley

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) and Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), the top Democrats on the subcommittees that oversee funding for the Department of the Interior (DOI), demanded the Trump Administration immediately reinstate terminated Indian Affairs employees, lift the hiring freeze, and officially rescind the deferred resignation and early retirement offers. As Ranking Members of the Sen...

Ranking Member Pingree Sounds Alarm Over Indiscriminate Firing of 3,400 Forest Service Employees

| Posted in Press Releases

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Interior and Environment Subcommittee, says the Trump Administration’s reported firing of 3,400 U.S. Forest Service (FS) employees will severely hinder the agency’s ability to fight wildfires. In a letter to newly confirmed Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, Pingree underscores that these firings come as the For...

Ranking Member Pingree: Trump’s Park Service Hiring Freeze a Direct Hit to Acadia and the Economy

| Posted in Press Releases
Acadia entrance sign

Today, House Appropriations Interior and Environment Subcommittee Ranking Member Chellie Pingree warned the Trump Administration that its ill-conceived federal hiring freeze will jeopardize National Park Service (NPS) operations at national parks like Acadia. Pingree called on Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum to immediately resume all seasonal hiring for the NPS and emphasized that the season...

LISTEN: Full Tele-Town Hall with Congresswoman Pingree

| Posted in Press Releases

On Tuesday evening, Congresswoman Chellie Pingree hosted a Tele-Town Hall event live from her office in Washington, D.C. During the hour-long event, she spoke directly with Mainers who have called her office since President Trump was inaugurated expressing their concerns, fears, and outrage over actions taken by the president, Elon Musk, and the Administration. Listen to the full event

Ranking Members Merkley, Pingree: Health Care in Tribal Communities in Danger Under Trump’s Hiring Freeze

| Posted in Press Releases

Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley and Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (ME-01), the top Democrats on the subcommittees that oversee funding for the Indian Health Service (IHS), demanded urgent action from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to stop dangerous cuts to the IHS workforce, which is already facing huge challenges and staffing vacancies. As Ranking Members of the Senate ...

Merkley, Murray, Pingree, and DeLauro: EPA Illegal Funding Cuts Harm Public Health, Environment, and Families

| Posted in Press Releases

Senate Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-WA), House Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Chellie Pingree (ME-01), and House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) demanded recently confirmed Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrato...

House Agriculture Leaders Pingree, Craig, Bishop: Illegal USDA Funding Freeze Hurts Farmers and Rural America

| Posted in Press Releases

Today, Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) joined House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Angie Craig (D-Minn.) and House Appropriations Agriculture Subcommittee Ranking Member Sanford D. Bishop, Jr. (D-Ga.) in demanding answers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) over the Trump Administration’s illegal federal funding freeze—which is already causing significant harm to America’s...

Ranking Member Pingree: Imminent Purge of EPA Employees Will Undermine Agency’s Obligations to Protect Human Health and the Environment

| Posted in Press Releases

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, is calling on the newly-confirmed Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Lee Zeldin to reject any effort to purge his agency’s workforce. Pingree’s letter follows reporting from The New York Times that the EPA warned more than 1,000 agenc...

Reps. Pingree, Moore Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Help Outdoor Retailers Phase Out Toxic Forever Chemicals

| Posted in Press Releases

U.S. Representatives Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) and Blake Moore (R-Utah) today introduced the bipartisan Protect Our Clothes from PFAS Act, which would make it easier for outdoor retailers to sell safer apparel that does not contain Per-and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances, or PFAS. The bill aims to eliminate a significant trade barrier that currently penalizes companies for choosing environmentally fri...

In Jetport Press Conference, Pingree Rails Against Unelected Billionaire Elon Musk, Illegal Actions by Trump Admin

| Posted in Press Releases

oday during a press conference at the Portland International Jetport, Maine Congresswoman Chellie Pingree spoke out against the litany of illegal and unconstitutional actions President Trump, his Administration, and Elon Musk have taken since Inauguration Day. Pingree shared that her office has received an unprecedented number of phone calls from concerned constituents, who have expressed fear and...

Pingree Statement on Trump Tariffs

| Posted in Press Releases

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) issued the following statement today in response to President Trump’s announcement of sweeping new tariffs on imports—including a 25% levy on goods from Maine’s largest trading partner, Canada: “President Trump’s tariffs will have devastating consequences for Mainers and our economy, driving up costs for working families and destabilizing key industries tha...

Pingree: Federal Funding Freeze an Unprecedented and Unlawful Assault on Constitutional Power

| Posted in Press Releases

Maine First District Congresswoman Chellie Pingree, a top Appropriator in the House, released the following statement on the Trump Administration’s memo to the Office of Management and Budget, pausing all federal funding: I am outraged by President Trump’s reckless directive to freeze federal funding. This is an unprecedented and unlawful assault on Congress’s constitutional power of the purse, an...

Ranking Member Pingree Condemns Unlawful Funding Freeze, Warns of Devastating Impacts on Tribal Communities and Environment

| Posted in Press Releases

House Appropriations Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Ranking Member Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) is sounding the alarm over the Trump Administration’s illegal and unprecedented directive to pause all federal financial assistance. On Tuesday, Pingree released the following statement calling attention to the wide-ranging and life-threatening impacts this brazen act could have on Tribal comm...

Pingree: Make America Healthy Again? Let’s See If They’re Serious

| Posted in Press Releases

In an op-ed published in The Hill today, Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) lays out a practical, bipartisan path to working with the Trump Administration on its “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) agenda. Pingree, a longtime farmer and advocate for sustainable agriculture, local food systems, and nutrition access, says she is ready to work across the aisle to make MAHA more than just a sloga...

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